Back to Basics: Licensing and assignments
Copyright owners have the exclusive right to carry out certain acts in relation to the work; acts which others are not permitted to carry out without authorisation. This means that the copyright owner has the power to control and exploit the use of their material, and it is the mechanism by which creative content is commercialised.
Understanding how that exploitation works, and ensuring it is properly documented, is central for anyone participating in the creative industry.
Assignments
Because copyright is a property right under English law, it can be transferred, or sold, like any other form of property. That transfer is called an assignment.
A writer of a screenplay will typically be required to assign the copyright in the script to the production company; an artist working on an animation will similarly be expected to assign their rights in the work they produce. Assignment is one of the principal ways in which content creators monetise their work.
Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (“CDPA”), a copyright assignment must be in writing and signed by the assignor to be legally effective. A verbal agreement to hand over rights is not sufficient. An assignment can be total or partial: a creator could, for example, assign only certain of their exclusive rights, or limit the assignment to a defined period of the copyright term.
One important point that is sometimes overlooked is that whilst copyright itself can be assigned, the author’s moral rights, which include the right to be identified as author and the right to object to derogatory treatment of the work, are personal rights that survive an assignment and cannot themselves be transferred. They remain with the author even after copyright has passed to a third party. In practice, producers will typically seek a waiver of moral rights alongside any copyright assignment, and this should be addressed expressly in any assignment agreement.
Licensing
The other principal mechanism for exploiting copyright is by way of licence. A licence is a permission — usually contractual — granted by the copyright owner to another party to use the material in certain specified ways. Licences can be either exclusive or non-exclusive.
A non-exclusive licence allows the copyright owner to grant the same permission to multiple parties simultaneously. An exclusive licence, by contrast, grants rights to one licensee to the exclusion of all others, including, depending on the scope of the licence, the copyright owner themselves. Because of this, English law affords exclusive licensees considerably stronger protection than non-exclusive ones. According to the CDPA, an exclusive licence must be in writing and signed by or on behalf of the copyright owner to be legally effective, which is the same formal requirement as an assignment. An exclusive licence that does not comply is not void, but it will not carry the full statutory protections.
Licences can be tailored with considerable flexibility: they can be limited by territory, by media, by duration, or by the specific acts permitted. This makes licensing a powerful and commercially important tool in entertainment law, enabling rights holders to grant precisely the permissions they intend, and no more, across different platforms and markets simultaneously.
A note on co-ownership
Where copyright is jointly owned by two or more parties, the position requires particular care. Under the CDPA, any act restricted by copyright — including granting a licence to a third party — requires the consent of all co-owners. A single co-owner cannot unilaterally licence the work to a third party without the others’ agreement. That said, each co-owner is generally entitled to exploit the work personally — to carry out the acts themselves — without needing the others’ consent, although they must account to the other co-owners for any profits they derive from doing so. The distinction between personal exploitation and granting third-party licences is significant. Co-ownership arrangements should always be clearly documented from the outset to avoid disputes later.
Statutory licensing and the Copyright Tribunal
Alongside privately negotiated licences and assignments, English copyright law contains various forms of statutory licensing. The Copyright Tribunal, established under the CDPA, is the principal body with jurisdiction to resolve disputes about licensing terms — for example, where a collecting society and a licensee cannot agree on the terms of a licence. The Tribunal can settle the terms on which a licence will be granted, making it an important backstop in the UK licensing framework. The Secretary of State also has specific powers in certain limited areas, for example in relation to rental and lending rights, but these are targeted statutory provisions rather than a general power to grant compulsory licences. These provisions tend to arise in specific and technical contexts, and specialist advice will generally be needed.
Music in films — a critical example
One area in which the law of copyright licensing comes into particularly sharp focus — and where the stakes for producers can be very high — is the use of music in film. It is an area that is frequently misunderstood, and one in which specialist entertainment lawyers in the UK can add significant value.
Under the CDPA, the soundtrack accompanying a film is treated as part of the film for the purposes of copyright duration, so that if you commission a composer to write an original score specifically for your project and obtain a written assignment of their copyright in the score, the duration of copyright protection is calculated accordingly. So far, so straightforward.
The position becomes considerably more complex when you wish to use pre-existing music. A commercial music recording typically attracts multiple, separate, and independently subsisting copyrights: the underlying musical composition (and any lyrics as a literary work), generally owned or controlled by a music publisher; and the specific sound recording, typically owned by a record label. These are distinct rights, held by distinct parties, and each requires its own separate licence. To use a specific commercial recording in a film, you will therefore need — at a minimum — two separate licences:
1. A synchronisation licence (or “sync licence”), obtained from the music publisher, which grants the right to use the underlying musical composition in timed relation with the visual images of the film.
2. A master use licence, obtained from the record label, which grants the right to use that specific sound recording.
Both are required. Obtaining one without the other does not give you the right to use the recording in your film, and many productions have run into costly difficulties by failing to appreciate this.
The UK’s collecting societies also play a central role in music rights administration. PRS for Music administers performing and communication rights in musical compositions and lyrics on behalf of songwriters, composers, and publishers. PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) administers the performing rights in sound recordings on behalf of record labels and performers. MCPS (Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, now operating within PRS for Music) handles mechanical reproduction rights. Depending on the nature and extent of the use, engagement with one or more of these bodies may be necessary, and royalty obligations will typically flow from any licence obtained.
Finally, a word on the question of exceptions. Unlike the broad US doctrine of “fair use” — which is not part of English law — the UK’s fair dealing exceptions under the CDPA are specific, narrow, and purpose-limited: they cover defined activities such as research and private study, criticism and review, reporting current events, and certain educational uses. For a commercial film production, these exceptions will not assist with music clearance. The starting assumption must be that licences will be required and must be negotiated and properly documented before production begins.
Finally…
Creators - assignments and licensing sit at the heart of entertainment law. Whether you are a creator looking to protect and exploit your own content, or a producer or distributor seeking to use or acquire the rights of others, getting the detail right matters enormously — and specialist advice will almost always be worthwhile.
DISCLAIMER: Please note that this content is for informational purposes only; it does not constitute, and should not be construed as constituting, legal advice. Whilst care is taken to ensure the content is accurate at the time it was produced, it may no longer be. You should seek specific legal advice in respect of particular legal issues or concerns. No liability or responsibility is accepted in respect of the content, or any actions taken based on the content.
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